What is a NAS and why should I care about it?

What is NAS?

NAS or Network Attached Storage is the most popular way of sharing storage among users in an organization or group.  NAS is a suitable storage solution for most organizations today.  With 1GbE and 10GbE the need for a dedicated SAN has diminished.  A NAS allows users to share data across the LAN and the internet.  NAS services in the cloud are becoming even more popular for data backup and bulk storage.   

Why should you care about it?

Well, most likely you need an economical and effective way of providing data storage to your organization. You want to improve collaboration and simplify the management or system administration burden. NAS solutions offer the most cost effective way to provide centralized storage. A NAS is typically used for user directories, mailboxes, and for any requirement that requires users to access the same piece of data from anywhere on the net.

What is a NAS architecture?

Typically there is a head unit which has the network connections to the LAN.  The head unit has directly attached disk.  The head unit manages the disk and data on the disks which is accessible via the network. There are several network protocols that are commonly used in NAS solutions. The most common file based protocols are NFS or CIFS which is the same as SMB. Other file protocols are available such as WebDAV and FTP. Lately, block protocols are being encapsulated in IP. iSCSI enables the SCSI block storage protocol to work over IP.Less popular but still in use is Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE).

Check out RackTop’s BrickStor if you are in search of a secure NAS solution with a great value. RackTop doesn’t have hidden costs and the base solution offers all of the network protocols without extra licensing fees. BrickStor is a simple to use solution with enterprise class reliability that won’t break your budget. Find out how well networked attached storage can work for you.

Top 3 reason to choose BrickStor
  1. It is the #1 ZFS storage appliance with lowest total cost of ownership
  2. Safest: BrickStor offers the highest protection against data corruption with ZFS
  3. BrickStor uses the newest certified technologies to provide the best performance

Contact RackTop today to find out what BrickStor model is right for your storage requirements.

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